Recens Paper is a Publication for the Youth by the Youth
By tackling societal norms and offering a fresh perspective on youth culture Recens Paper is aiming to raise a generation.
By tackling societal norms and offering a fresh perspective on youth culture Recens Paper is aiming to raise a generation.
The younger generation among us are often perceived as apathetic, self-centered Internet obsessives. This generational archetype is inaccurate, there are plenty of observant, hyper-aware digital natives who are coming of age in a time of great technological advancement, cultural fluidity and borderless attitudes. Concepts such as race, age and gender feel arbitrary to them.
16-year-old Elise By Olsen, the founder and editor-in-chief of youth culture magazine Recens Paper, could be considered wholly representative of this increasingly influential generation of young people. She began blogging at the tender age of eight and has already given an illuminating TED Talk.
Oslo-born By Olsen recognised that magazines aimed at über young audiences generally leant heavily on three base topics: pop culture, celebrities and beauty. In doing so, they helped perpetuate (and reinforce) unrealistic beauty standards and hyper-commercialisation.
She established Recens Paper in 2014 as an act of opposition to this. The magazine's pages present political essays, progressive photo series', think pieces that break down binary stereotypes and profiles that showcase the meaningful achievements of a talented spectrum of young people. The magazine also acts as a platform for its contributors, who are able to connect with like-minded individuals within the creative industries.
Each issue of Recens Paper adopts a highly conceptual approach that helps to dictate the art direction, meaning that none of the four issues that have been released so far are alike.
She attributes the continued success of Recens Paper to several things: a generational yearning to connect with tangible, authentic content, the internet’s ability and simplify the creative process and Oslo’s willingness to fund young creative such as herself.
gal-dem zine and Banana are further examples of magazines that are being created by the audiences they intend to reach.
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